crimson. [shu kurenai x reader]

Shattered

'What do you want?'

I glanced back to the blue doors, where the undefeated champion stood coldly, anger and disrespect tinging his words. His eyes were fierce with victory, his face pulled back in a long, stretched, toothy smile. If you could call it that. I stepped forward. I was taller than Lui, but the tip of his flaming hair was still taller than me. In reality, he was probably the shortest blader in the tournament, even smaller than Valt and Daigo, but he was so harsh that his brutal personality made up for it, making him the most feared blader in the tournament. 

'I said, what do you want?' Lui repeated again. We lunged towards each other, hands gripping one another as we attempted to knock each other back. I stared into his cold eyes, unfazed by what we were doing. I gripped his hand a little harder, my nails beginning to bite into his skin. His long nails clawed into my skin as well, until we both drew a few beads of blood, then let go of each other, panting.

Then, his smirk stretched even longer, and he crossed his arms over himself, tilting his head a little to the side, raising his left eyebrow. 'I take it you want payback for me destroying your little Shu in front of millions? Or that I crushed you as well on National TV? And after both of you put so much effort into making a comeback. I just can't help it; both of you are pathetic.'

That was it for me. I stepped even closer towards him, leaning forward so that his purple eyes were just an inch away from my (e/c) ones. 'Say that again,' I whispered through gritted teeth, venom leaking out of the words I had just uttered. Without thinking, I raised my left hand and slapped him hard across the cheek, so that a red handprint was stained to his face. I whipped myself around and left towards the red corner doors where the rest of the Bey Club was waiting.

'You didn't do anything too bad, did you?' Xander asked quietly, leaning down to speak directly into my face.

'I-I only slapped him. And I caused him to bleed but-'

'You made Lui bleed?' 

Shu had come out of the pale doors, marching through the Bey Club, ignoring their words of sympathy, making his way towards me.

'But he made me bleed as well!' I replied angrily. 'And he had no right to call us pathetic! I-I wanted payback for-'

'For what?' demanded Shu, interrupting me, pushing Xander aside so he could properly speak to me. 'For being mean and a bitch? For breaking my bey? For taunting both of us?'

'Yes!' I cried out, outraged that Shu wasn't helping me. We gripped each others shoulders, leaning to each others faces and growling. 'He deserves revenge, Shu. And I'm going to serve it to him.

'(y/n), listen to yourself!' Shu shouted, and a jolt of pain shot through my arm. My eyes widened as Shu's grip tightened. 'You said yourself to Valt to not sink down to Lui's level. You're better than this, aren't you (y/n)? You're better than Lui, so don't change that and stoop to his level of lowness! Just...don't be Lui.'

'I-I-I' I realized I had gone speechless at the last comment. I blinked and looked around at the foyer, everyone from the Bey Club to the audience to Hanami to other bladers were looking at us. I swallowed hard. Shu's grip relaxed, but he grasped my wrist instead, leading me towards the exit without saying anything. I didn't protest, but looked into his red hues, searching for any emotion. A breeze that floated through our hair announced our arrival at the beach. We both kicked our shoes off before settling into the dense sand, squishing it slightly. I knew the sun was setting, but this time I didn't bother myself to look and admire it. Instead, I looked towards the sand below me, shells of pink and white hues scattered across the sand, the occasional seaweed washing up on the shore as the seagulls cawed. 

'I know it's hard to not want revenge. But we have to try.'

I blinked and looked up at Shu, who was looking down on me, speaking softly.

'I know,' I managed to croak out. 'I'll try.'

We sat in silence again, only the seagulls and the distant chatter of the crowd to be heard. I looked again to the male sitting next to me, who was looking directly into the sunset. A single tear leaked out of his red pools, a drop of blue in red. A wave of emotion overwhelmed me. Shu must be trying so hard to not want revenge. He was trying so hard to keep all the emotion in. I realized I've never seen him cry. Never. Not knowing what had overcame me, I reached out and brushed a white lock away, revealing the scar he had hid. He blinked and glanced towards me, not acknowledging to presence of the single tear. Instead, I saw the stare I had given Lui a few days ago. A stare with determinedness to overcome this obstacle and make a comeback.

'You're gonna be ok, aren't you?' I softly smiled. He nodded silently. 'Spryzen will just evolve.'

'I know, but...' he trailed off. He took the two broken pieces of Spryzen out, lowering his head once again. 'Man...I just pushed you way too hard. I'm sorry...' two more tears fell. 'I let you down.' Then he returned back to normal, all the shadows gone as he looked at me. 'I let you down as well, (y/n). I let Valt down. I-I let everyone down.'

'Shu....' I whispered gently, cupping his face in my hands. 'You didn't let me down. You made me proud. And remember what you told me, you'll just come back even stronger. I love you not because you're a great blader, but because you're different.'

There was silence as he took in those words, the words he had uttered to me just days ago. He smiled and I smiled back as we leaned in closer, and it was slow, just like our first kiss. Five centimeters. Four. Three. Two. O-.

'ARGHHHHH!!!!!! SHU!!!!!!!!!!'

A whirlwind of blue and red came crashing in towards us, ruining the special moment, throwing us back. The sand squished and a cold shiver ran down my back as I fell on the sand. 

'Shu, are you alright?' Valt asked worriedly. 'I've been looking all over for you.'

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Shu smiled again.

'Oh, that's great!' responded Valt happily, still oblivious that I was here and he had just wrecked a kiss. 'But man, the Crux Boost was wicked! It was like - zhoop! Bip! Crack! Woosh! Aaand HI-YA!'

I flinched as a patch of cold, wet sand hit me straight on the face, water trickling down my face. Then another one hit me. And another. And another.

'ENOUGH!' I yelled at Valt, startling him so he fell back this time. I growled, thrusting Xcalius into Shu's lap. 'Hold this for me. HA!'

I sent the cold sand flying towards his face this time, and he fell straight back into the water as I dissolved into laughter.

'Hey!!!! (y/n)!! I'll get you back!' said Valt playfully, throwing me into the water. Cold waves over lapped me, and we played like this for what seemed like forever.

---------------

Shu's POV 

Tears splattered down on the three beys I held in my shaking hand.

'I promise I'll make it up to all of you....'

------------------

YAYAYAY FINALLY A LONG CHAPTER!!!

REMEMBER...VOTE...COMMENT...SHARE!!!

Word count: 1882